Drop bottom car



Nov, 29, 1938.. E. W. DUNCAN DROP BOTTOM CAR 2 Sheets-Sheet l 7 Filed April 26, 1938 Nov. 219, 1938.. E. w. DUNCAN DROP BOTTOM CAR Filed April 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Swen W04 E/Mfluncan REEfiSlH-Ill Patented Nov. 29, 1938 UNITED STATES APR 281942 PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to railway cars for use in carrying coal, ore and other material which may be discharged thru the bottom of the car, and particularly relates to a car of this character having drop bottoms or doors normally held closed but released in order to discharge the contents of the car.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a structure of this character in which up the doors or drop bottoms are held up in closed position by a latch, and provide means whereby the latch may be electrically released whenv the car reaches a predetermined point, as for example, a predetermined point over a dump.

13 Another object is to provide a structure of this character in which the several drop bottoms or doors are serially released immediately that the car moves over the dump so that the first door is released when in proper position with relation to the dump, then as the car moves further on, the second door is released and discharges its load, etc.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character in which the doors may be released when any particular door is immediately above a downwardly inclined chute or floor, so that the coal or other material has only a little distance to fall instead of the coal or other material having to fall thru a relatively long distance to the bottom of' the dump with consequent liability of the coal or other material being broken up into smaller pieces.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in thetaccompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a drop bottom mining car with one of the doors dropped, the walls of the bin being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is an electrical diagram showing the electrical connections between the magnet, the contacts and the source of current.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the car shown in Fig. 1, housing for one of the magnets and latches being broken away.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the contact memher and of the third rail with which it isadapted to engage, the housing for the upper portion of the contact member being in sectipn.

Referring to the drawings, I0 d 'signates generally the body of the car which ma I be constructed of metal or other suitable material and has sides II which extend downward and inward and V then extend straight downward, at at l2. This car is provided with the usual wheels l3 operating on the rails H which extend across the dump A.

I have shown the car ID as being provided with three drop bottoms designated generally IS. The forward bottom is hinged at its rear end adjacent to the front axle l6 of the car, the middle bottom or door I5 is hinged adjacent the rear axle but forward thereof, while the rearmost door l5 is hinged at its rear end adjacent the rear 10 end of the car.

Above each of the axles there is disposed a protector or guard plate I! of heavy sheet metal which is attached at its ends to the downwardly extending side walls l2 of the car body. Also dis- 1 posed between each axle IE or I6 and the guard plate I! is a second approximately V-shaped plate l8.

The fore-door I5 is hinged at l9 to the forward edge of this intermediate plate I8, and the door 80 I5 is also hinged at l9 to the corresponding intermediate plate l8. The door l5 is hinged at l9 to a plate 20, and extending over this plate 28 and downward and forward nearly to the hinge is a protector plate 2|.

Extending downward and rearward at the front end of the portion I2 of the car is a plate 22 cut away at 23. Attached to the end of the portion l2 of the car is a keeper 24 having an indented portion 25. The plate I8 over the axle 30 I6 is also formed upon its rear face with an indented keeper 25 and the same is true of the plate l8 which extends over the axle l6. Each of the protector plates ll are outwardly bulged on each edge at the middle thereof, as at 26. 35 J Mounted upon the inner face of each door is a latch 21 which is projected by a spring 28 and which is guided'within the guides 29 and 30 attached to the inner face of the door. The latch is projected by the spring 28 but is adapted to be 40 retracted by thef'electro-magnet 3|. The electromagnet and the body -dr the latch are disposed within a housing 32 which is open at its forward end and is detachably carried upon the door, the rear end of this housing being somewhat tapered 45 for the passage of an electric conductor 33 which is suitably insulated and extends laterally out thru the side wall of the car and then upward and forward to a contact 34. The nose of each latch 21 is adapted to engage with thecorresponding keeper 25 and hold the door closed until the electro-magnet is energized whereupon, of course, the latch is released from the keeper and the door will fall, by reason of the weight of material thereon, or thru its own weight. 55

I have illustrated three-contacts 34, one for each door. These contacts are each carried by a shank 35 having a T-shaped head 36 supported for rocking movement in an approximately U-shaped bracket 31. This is to secure a certain amount of flexibility in the contact 34 so that the contact may easily ride over and electrically engage with a conductor rail 38 mounted upon and insulated from a support 39. A conductor 40 leads from a source of electrical potential to this rail 38 and when a contact 34 engages this rail, the corresponding magnet is immediately energized, thus releasing the latch and causing the door to drop. The magnet 3| is electrically connected on one side to a ground 4| having metallic connection to the car frame, axle or other part, and the other side of the magnet is connected by the conductor 33 as previously explained, to the contact 34.

The bin A is illustrated as having an upwardly inclined side wall A and preferably the third rail 38 will be so disposed that when the fore-door is just over this inclined wall A, this door will be automatically opened, so that the coal is discharged upon this inclined wall A and thus has only a short distance to fall and will not be broken in its fall, but the coal will roll down the incline to the bottom of the bin. If the door opened. above the middle portion of the bin A, the coal would have a long distance to fall and would be broken into relatively small pieces and its value reduced. When all the coal has been discharged from the front portion of the car, the car is again moved until the second or intermediate door is over the inclined portion A of the bin and then this intermediate door is automatically opened to discharge the coal thereover and then, of course, the rear door is successively opened.

While I have illustrated a car with three drop bottoms or doors, I do not wish to be limited thereto as obviously a greater number of drop bottoms might be used, depending upon ,the length of the car. It will be seen that the magnets and the latches are fully protected by the housings 32 and that the keepers and the axles are fully protected by the protecting plates I1 and that when the doors are closed, the projected latches engaging the several keepers are protected by the bulges 26.

While I have illustrated certain details of construction and arrangement of parts, it is obvious that many minor changes might be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A drop bottom car, including a body having side walls and front and rear walls, axles operatively engaged with the body intermediate the ends thereof and having wheels, front, rear and intermediate drop bottom doors operativeiy hinged each at its rear end to the car body, one of said drop bottom doors being hinged at its rear end adjacent the rear end wall of the car body, spring-projected latches mounted upon the inner face of each drop bottom door and an electromagnet associated with each latch for retracting the same and carried by said drop bottom door on the inner face thereof, a lading protecting housing extending over each latch and its asso-.

ciated magnet and attached to the corresponding door, keeper plates extending over each axle and formed with keepers for the rear and intermediate doors, a keeper plate mounted at the forward end of the car and having a keeper coacting with the latch of the forward door, V-shaped protective plates attached to the side walls of the car and extending over the axles and over the corresponding keeper plates and the hinges of the forward and intermediate doors, a protective plate extending downward from the front wall over the forward latch, a protective plate extending downward from the rear wall and over the hinge for the rear door, conductors connected to said magnets and extending out thru the side walls of the car, swingingly mounted contacts carried'by one side wall of the car, one for each of said magnets and to which the respective conductors are connected, and a third rail with which said contacts are adapted to engage whereby the magnets are energized to retract the latches to release the several bottoms whereby the same may move to drop position.

ED W. DUNCAN. 

